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The problem now is that people need to form a culture of clean water use. They are consumers – it means that they have to pay, to care – for example, if I get water, and I leave the tap open, somebody will not get water. This culture should be cultivated. It is difficult to break the system at once, slowly, slowly
Clean water
We have five villages in the Aral aiyl okmotu, the population is about 6,400 people. In early 2000s, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank financed a project on rural sanitation and clean water. The goal was to rehabilitate the existing system of water pumps, and there was no expansion. Three villages entered the project as pilot ones, in 2004-2005 the work was finished, and then Dolon and Kosh-Dobo were also supported by the project. They did not have any water at all during the Soviet Union era, in 1970-80s they installed the water pipes and it worked for one year. People brought water or took it from the creek back then. And three
villages –Aral, Min-Bulak, Sary-Dobo – were fed from a well in Aral. It was also in emergency state (built in 1963).

In Sary-Dobo village there was a carrier of typhoid, every 2-3 years he gave an outbreak. They came from the republican level, made a lot of noise, because it is an infectious and dangerous disease. And as the water was installed, they forgot about it, God forbid. That was the problem.

In 2016, the Swiss project and Aral aiyl okmotu signed a cooperation agreement – two villages were given water in the new buildings. We have installed pipes, the meters have been supplied and they are still working. Previously, there was no water in the new buildings, and we installed almost 4 km of pipes. The FOP (village Feldsher Obstetrical Post) was provided with cold and hot water too, so you can see it on the spot. We have secondary schools in four villages and a primary school in one village. And a good thing that we installed water pipes there too, for it, as for public utilities, ayil okmotu pays from the budget. And because there is clean water in five rural schools now, hot meals are organized for about 525 students.

Previously, according to the World Bank conditions, street pumps were made, but then, you know, it is impractical. Now they've connected homes. At the moment, a lot of attention is being paid to clean, drinking water in the republic. How can we be without water? And our water is excellent, artesian, comes through the well.
And because there is clean water in five rural schools now, hot meals are organized for about 525 students
The Water Tower
It is a 50 cubic meter pressure tower, 18 meters, the pump is 35 meters deep, and in Sary-Dobo it is 70. It was built in 2001-2002. It was painted, when it was built, and from that moment it was not repainted –there is not enough money, but to avoid rusting it is necessary. The operator comes at a certain time, turns on the pump, there is a sensor, he looks at the voltage. The water is pumped up and then is distributed along the routes to two villages – Aral and Min-Bulak. The system is like this: when there is no pressure, there is no water coming to the end of the village or up the village. Or, if there is a leak in several places, the pressure is not created either. When the power is down, repaired or something else, we are notified in advance that from that time on there will be no electricity in these villages, and the water does not come.

Now the water is supplied to Kosh-Dobo and Dolon 24 hours a day, everyone has meters. The billing system works, we have established it through the project. You only provide meter readings and it does the calculation. In the other three villages (Aral, Min-Bulak, Sary-Dobo) we are trying to make sure that there is water 24 hours a day, but for this we need to have meters. Now, from seven in the morning until six at the evening, the water is supplied, because some of the faucets are left open, it is just a waste of water. Sometimes there are holidays, celebrations (toi) or funerals, then we provide as much water as they ask for. If we all switch to meters, the water will be available 24 hours a day. Now the equipment is developing, we have Internet – if a meter is installed, the information goes straight to the billing system, accountant or controller wouldn't have to go to every house – this should be the goal. So, it goes (oshondoy).
Culture of water use
Big changes came after the water pipes were installed – in all villages they started to make separate bathrooms, hot water, cold water and automatic washing machines, like in the city. You came from work, took a shower in the evening, all good. Life is improving somehow anyway. It is very difficult without water. They show on TV how people carry water in buckets and canisters, but here you open a faucet, and there it is – clean water. But the problem is that some people water the garden with it. This is forbidden, it is drinking water. There is an irrigation, but sometimes, if the village is big, there is no access to the canal or there is no irrigation canal, so clean water is used for irrigation. We are fighting this too.

The problem now is that people need to form a culture of clean water use. They are consumers – it means that they have to pay, to care – for example, if I get water, and I leave the tap open, somebody will not get water. This culture should be cultivated. It is difficult to break the system at once, slowly, slowly. It is good in two villages, because they haven't drunk water for 70 years, they use it well, and those, who drank before, don't treat it with care.
Water tariff and public hearings
Water tariffs are a question too. We took it to public hearings, discussed it, considered all the depreciation costs and concluded – 35 soms per cubic meter. Previously, we had a tariff for each person, but now the meters have been installed, and the payment is based on a meter.
100 or a little more soms a month, it depends on how they use the water. This is like a pack of cigarettes per month, and I don't know, you shouldn't spare money for water – it's first of all your health. Sometimes it happens that they say that it is expensive, but we take it up for discussion and accept the tariff – we refer to it.

There are about 60-100 people at public hearings. In some villages, there are more than 100 people, but, in theory, there should be a person from every household yard. It is also a problem to gather people together, well, not that it is a problem, some people don't want to, they are just not interested. In the spring, we discuss the tariff for the current year, when the year is over, the chairman of the RPADWU (Rural Public Associations of Drinking Water Users) reports. Usually the process is as follows: we make an announcement through Ayil Bashy (village head from Ayil Okmotu district), through RPADWU in advance, and then make an appointment for a day. We put an agenda for discussion, and the way it is trendy now, we have a moderator. The Auditing Committee meets, it is also a public association, all issues are discussed and after the decision is made. If hearings are held on the report for the last year, the Chairman of the RPADWU (Rural Public Association of Drinking Water Users) and the Auditing Committee report on what financial expenses were and who does not pay. There is something to hide in the debt too. Decisions are made on the agenda, on the issues under consideration – this is how it happens.

- And how does the decision-making process take place – by voting?

We cannot do without voting, if they do not vote, they will say that they have not voted or that the decision is made not by them. We held public hearings when we started working on the Swiss project. They did a lot of good work – they trained us well on how to identify problems – so we started and the public hearings became the norm. Sometime in June, we put the draft budget for the next year for discussion, and in February of the following year, we discuss the budget for the previous year.
It is very difficult to attract young people here. They work for a month, a month and a half or two, and then they go, but now some people got used to it – and they still work
The work of ayil okmotu
There are 16 people working in the ayil okmotu, including ayil bashy. In four villages – Sary-Dobo, Dolon, Kosh-Dobo and Aral – we have the head (ayil bashy). Ayil bashy solves all everyday life issues in the village. They work together with us, we give them tasks. I tell them, you play the role of ayil okmotu in every village, it is important that people come to you.

I am a teacher by profession, I graduated from Przhevalsk Pedagogical Institute. I worked as a head teacher at the school, in 1991 I was elected to the village council (kenesh). From 1991 to 1996 I was the chairman of the village council. Then I came back to the school as the head teacher and in 2000 I came here (aiyl okmotu). We will continue to work, our term ends in 2020. We bring up the guys, and perhaps we will go to rest at home later, enough for us. That's the way things are.

It is very difficult to attract young people here. They work for a month, a month and a half or two, and then they go, but now some people got used to it – and they still work. Their first year we involve them gradually, slowly, so that they do not run away. Sometimes they would work, and then say: «Ay, enough!». Now it's harder than it used to be – people are quite different. There are young people, who don't understand anything, I'm not saying that everybody doesn't understand. Some of them sit at home, don't see anything and just yell, «you did not do this, aiyl okmotu did not do this, the school did not do this, RPADWU (Rural Public Association of Drinking Water Users) did not do this», and do not want to do anything, do not do it. I tell them, when we are gathering, come to us to ayil okmotu. All doors are open for you, we will work together, discuss what problems should be solved.

We used to have a small budget, not enough money everywhere, not even a salary, now,
thank God, we have our own budget, but we are on subsidies. For example, when the road had to be paved, we talked to the residents and collected money ourselves. Now people live well. The most important thing is that they learned how to work properly, adapt and work.

At the local level, members of the local council elect the heads of aiyl okmotu. I believe that it is necessary to have a direct election, for people to elect them, so they would be responsible to people. I chose you, and you did not do this. The mayor of the city and the head of the aiyl okmotu need to be elected by people.

The members of the local Kenesh are the legislative body, and we are the executive body. We fulfill the aspirations of people, and they make decisions. They have a lot of work, a big task, a budget and its implementation should be approved. The members of the local council are elected, but they forget about it sometimes.
Subsidized aiyl okmotus in the republic are municipalities that receive additional funding from the state budget, as they cannot provide themselves with taxes and income collected in aiyl okmotu.
The budget of ayil okmotu
We have a land tax, transport and income taxes, the rest of the money are from the national budget. The budget is 5.8 million a year, about half of it comes from the national budget. There are four libraries and two clubs, and that's what we maintain. We provide for the school – we pay for utilities, electricity and coal – we spend about a million soms. And we pay for the water in schools from our budget. Utilities, in general, are financed from the local budget. And so we do some work on modernization and development, mainly through projects, we can't do anything through the budget, because it is limited.

Last year, the school in Min Bulak was renovated through the one of the banks. The village club was also renovated through Mercy Corps. Now they have launched a small garden to raise apples and make compot for children, also Mercy Corps helped us with the local budget.
The Issyk-Kul Region Development Fund also provides good financial assistance through Kumtor. Now there is a gym in three villages out of five, and in the fourth, in Aral, they are building a gym, which is also good. That's the way things are.
In April 2009, the Zhogorku Kenesh of the Kyrgyz Republic ratified the Agreement on New Terms and Conditions for the Kumtor Project, which provides for monthly contributions to the Issyk-Kul Region Development Fund (hereinafter - the Fund) in the amount of 1% of the gross income of Kumtor Gold Company CJSC. These funds are intended to finance socially significant projects aimed at developing the economic potential and social infrastructure of the region. https://www.kumtor.kg/ru/media-relations/development-fund/

At the meeting each village brings up its problems, then we gather people from five villages and discuss them – that's the first problem, and this is the second one, and they vote. Which problem gets the most votes, will be solved first, if it is possible – through our (ayil okmotu) budget
Identification of priority issues to solve in the district
At the meeting each village brings up its problems, then we gather people from five villages and discuss them – that's the first problem, and this is the second one, and they vote. Which problem gets the most votes, will be solved first, if it is possible – through our (ayil okmotu) budget. That's how we knew that there is no water in the new buildings in Aral and in Min-Bulak. Then, within the framework of the project, they defended it and received funding from international organizations.

Now we have a big problem in five villages – no kindergarten. No village has a kindergarten. There is no FOP (Feldsher Obstetrical Post) in Min Bulak village. This year we submitted an application to ARIS (Community Development and Investment Agency in Kyrgyzstan), but they did not support it, and it did not work. Last year we built two modern schools in Dolon and Sary-Dobo through the national budget. One building in Dolon has been vacated, and we want to convert it into a kindergarten. If there was a kindergarten in one village, now everyone has vehicles, we could take children from Min-Bulak and Sary-Dobo there. Now there is a three-hour kindergarten (at school), but there is no proper one. The Internet has been wired, a fiber-optic cable has been installed, the speed is fine, everything is fine – the only thing that is missing is a kindergarten.

- But, as you said, there is no FOP (Feldsher Obstetrical Post) in Min Bulak. Does it mean that basically there is no medical institution there?

- There is one in Aral, where they take people for vaccination or something else.

- What if someone needs urgent help?

- Now we have phones, people call and they bring them by car.

- And is Aral far from here? How much time is it?

- In terms of time it is 2 km.

- That's ok, actually, not as far as I thought.

- There is a family doctor in Aral, and in other villages there are a FOPs (Feldsher Obstetrical
Post).

- And you also mentioned village health committees.

- Yes.

- Where are they based?

- They are on a voluntary basis.

- I mean, do they have space?

- Every village has committees, we have set up FOPs (Feldsher Obstetrical Post). When they
have meetings, they use a separate room to work together.
We thank Baktybek Mamytov (the head of the Aral ayil okmotu of the Aral ayil district) and Azamat Jigitekov (coordinator of the project "Public Services Improvement in Kyrgyzstan", Tup district, Aral aiyl okmotu) for this conversation.
Governance, institutions
and decentralization
Involvement of citizens in national and local political processes is fundamental for the func-
tioning of a democracy. Switzerland is supporting the efforts undertaken by Kyrgyzstan to
make political institutions at all levels more inclusive, more transparent and more accountable.
The Swiss engagement in local governance, together with local partners, has increased the
participation of citizens, among which a substantial number of women, in budgetary pro-
cesses. This has led to the increase in the level of citizen satisfaction with the work of local
governments in the municipalities where Swiss projects are being implemented. The model
developed with the support of Switzerland was institutionalized in national legislation. Swit-
zerland supports the country in improvement of basic public services, especially for vulner-
able population groups. At the national level, Switzerland has been supporting the Kyrgyz
authorities in strengthening the management of public finances.
Further reforms are needed to ensure that these achievements are consolidated and last in
the long term. More specifically, the Swiss cooperation will provide support to Kyrgyzstan to
increase public service coverage at local level and to review intergovernmental fiscal rela-
tions and to continue to improve public financial management. Targeted actions will also be
undertaken to reinforce the parliamentary system to enable citizens to hold their government
and the parliament accountable.

Projects implemented in the governance sector in Kyrgyzstan:
  • Strengthening Voice and Accountability in Kyrgyzstan;
  • Public Services Improvement in Kyrgyzstan;
  • Strong and Inclusive Parliamentary Democracy;
  • Capacity Building on Public Finance Management (co-funded by the European Union).
We recommend to listen the audio installation in the headphones